Foundling
by Bonnie Celt
Summary: MacKay discovers a hidden room in the city that turns out to contain a working stasis pod... and someone is inside!
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first try at sci-fi, so I hope ya'll like it. Feel free to leave commets and suggestions; they'll be appreciated!**

**Oh, yeah, I don't own Stargate Atlantis. (My sister really wishes she did though)**

* * *

><p>Lt. Col. John Sheppard was at the ready with his fighting sticks. Facing him was his friend, teammate, and sparring partner Teyla Emmogen. The concentration of the two was so intent it could almost be felt. Quick as lighting, Teyla suddenly struck. Sheppard blocked the first and second blow but was caught off guard by the third was struck on the leg. Just as he was about to retaliate, the voice of Dr. McKay sounded through the comm system.<p>

"Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, meet me in the control room." Sheppard groaned. McKay always seemed to be able to catch him in the middle of something. Grudgingly, John grabbed up his ear piece and gym bag and followed Teyla to the main control room.

There they found McKay intently studying a blueprint of a section of Atlantis with Ronon standing nearby, looking bored.

"You called, Rodney?" said Teyla.

"Yeah, yeah, give me a second."

"McKay," Sheppard groaned.

"All right, all right, we think we found something." The scientist replied.

Ronon raised an eyebrow. "You _think_ you found something?"

"Yeah, right here." McKay pointed to the screen. A small room was flashing light blue.

"What is it?" asked Sheppard?

"I don't know, but that room wasn't showing up before." He glanced down at the control panels in front of him. "There seemed to have been a shield around the room, blocking it from the city's scanners. It also seems to be using power."

"From the ZPM?" asked the voice of Dr. Wier. They all turned to see the expedition team leader approaching. "What have you got, Rodney?" she asked.

"It seems to be a small room of some kind,that was not on our city scanners before and seems to be using power for something. Lucky for us, it seems to be using power from a source of its own." McKay replied.

"Really? Do you think it might be a hidden ZPM?" Weir wondered.

"That would be great." Said Sheppard.

"Unfortunately, I can't tell form here. I'll need to take a few people down there with me and find out." Said McKay

* * *

><p>"Quit complaining, Rodney."<p>

"Well, when I said 'a few people' I didn't really mean you three, Sheppard." Sheppard, McKay, Teyla, and Ronon were walking down a corridor on one of the lower levels of the city. McKay, who was navigating with the life-signs detector, had been complaining the whole way about getting stuck with the others as escorts.

"It's okay, McKay, I don't really want to be here listening to you whine, either." Said Ronon. McKay stopped and gave Ronon a looking that could have killed. He continued on a few more feet, then he stopped again, just outside of a door.

"This is it." He said, and began looking for the door control panel. When he found it, he tried to open it, but it would not open. He pried the front off and was, after a minute or two of fiddling with it, able to get the door opened.

With a soft hiss, the door slid open. As they walked in a few dim lights came on and the door hissed shut behind them. On one side of the room was what appeared to be examining table and on the other side was what looked like a stasis pod or chamber. Control stations with numerous readouts and such were beside each.

"It looks like a laboratory." Said Teyla.

"Yes, it does." Replied McKay. He quickly walked over to the instrument panel beside the pod. Sheppard, Ronon, and Teyla, having finished securing the room, gathered around the pod. The arch of glass near the top was dark.

"This is what is drawing the power," said McKay. He grinned. "It is a ZPM! I knew it!" he said excitedly.

"Do you think we could use it to power the shield?" asked Sheppard.

"Maybe, if I can find out what it is powering." He pushed few buttons. His face suddenly went blank with amazement. "It's a stasis pod." He said.

"I think we all could tell that, Rodney." Said Sheppard.

"Yeah, but this pod is drawing power; it's active." Said the sciencest excitedly.

"You mean somebody is in this thing?" asked Ronon.

"Well, I doubt it would be active if it was empty." Came the irritated reply. Suddenly, the window in the pod was lit up from within. The glass was frosted, but a vague shape could be seen inside. McKay was pushing buttons and reading the screens on the control panel once more. "This is encredible. If this thing does what it's supposed to do, it is a true stasis chamber, where aging is completely halted." McKay commented.

"Is there anything about who might in here?" asked Sheppard.

"Give me a second to pull up the files- Yes, its-"

"What?" asked Sheppard, almost afraid to find out.

"I think it's an Ancient." Came the stunned answer.

"So, you think the person inside this pod be well be an Ancient?" asked Weir. As soon as they had this out, McKay's team lost no time in telling her about their discovery and bringing her down to the small laboratory. "Do you know who it is, or why are they in here?"

"Well, it seemed to be an experiment. The Ancient scientist who built the pod was trying to improve on their current stasis technology. It seems to work on a combination of the technology used in the stasis chamber we found the other Elizabeth in, and cryonic suspension."

"That's all very interesting, Rodney, but what I really like to know is who's in there and why are they there." interrupted Sheppard.

"I'm getting to that." Rodney pushed a few buttons on his pad which was connected to the control panel. "It seems to be the scientist's daughter." He said in amazement.

Dr. Carson Beckett had been eating his lunch with a few of his co-workers when he was suddenly interrupted by Rodney McKay's voice coming over his radio ear piece.

"Yes, Rodney, what is it?" he asked in his Scottish accent.

"You have to see this! You gotta come down here, it's amazing!-" McKay's rapid-fire chatter was interrupt by Elizabeth Weir.

"Rodney's found something in one of the more remote parts of the city, and we need you take a look. You'll probably want your basic gear."

"My gear? What is it Elizabeth?"

"I believe Rodney wishes to surprise you." inserted Teyla.

"All right, I'm on my way." Replied the doctor.

* * *

><p>"Okie-dokie then, what have you got that so urgently needs my attention?" Carson said as he entered the laboratory.<p>

"Meet our newest discovery." Replied Rodney as he motioned toward the stasis pod. Carson took a few steps closer and peered at the now lit window. He could see a person was inside.

"Is that a person inside?"

"Yes, it is." Said a now smiling Weir. "And we think she is an Ancient."

"Really? What makes you think this?"

"According to the log, this thing has been on and running over 10,000 years, and started right around the timed the Ancients left and went to earth." Rondey explained.

"And I take it you want to open this thing and let whoever's in there out?"

"Well, duh! Would you like to talk with a living, breathing Ancient?"

"I suppose, but we have to consider what's good for the person inside," said Beckett. "What if being in this stasis chamber is the only reason they're alive? If we take them out they could die."

"That's why we called you down here," said Sheppard. "We need your expertise to tell us if it's safe to open it."

"Okay," the Scotsman shrugged. "Let me see the readings." It took him thirty minutes to read everything the computer was telling him. "Well, according to this, the patient is an eighteen year-old female. She's stable, and quite healthy for being in a stasis pod for 10,000 years.

"Didn't Rodney tell you? It's a true stasis chamber." Said Sheppard sarcastically.

"Are you serious?" Carson Beckett's eyes were wide in amazement. "that's incredible!"

"Yes it is, now, is safe to open this thing or not?"

"Well, assuming these readings are accurate, I would say yes it's safe, but I can't be 100% sure since I don't know what will happen during the waking process," relied Beckett. "Does the log say why she was in here?"

"Science." Rodney answered. "The girl's mother built the pod and want to know if and how well it worked."

"But why was she left behind?" asked Teyla.

"The log doesn't say. It doesn't give any indication as to how long she was supposed to be in there. However, by the way this room was hidden, I suspect that this scientist, who remains mysteriously unnamed, wasn't supposed to be conducting this experiment." said McKay. "So, Elizabeth, can we crack this thing or not?"

"Yes, Rodney, you can opened it." replied Weir. She was getting rather excited at the prospect of meeting a living, breathing Ancient. Rodney started working the controls and the light in the chamber turned orange, indicating that heat lamps were working. Condensation built up on the glass. Fifteen minutes later, the light went back to normal. Five minutes later, the domed cover of the pod opened and was scrolled down in to the left side of the pod, leaving the figure of a girl exposed. Immediately Beckett was checking her breathing and vital signs. He look up with a smile.

"Breathing and heart rate are normal. So far it looks like she came out just fine." He said happily. Everyone let out the breath they had been holding. She was petite, and had fair skin and straight brown hair parted over her left eye. She was wearing a full chocolate brown skirt that came to her mid-calf, and a fawn colored vest that look like it was make of suede or buckskin over a cream colored shirt with long, draping puffed sleeves. Her feet were covered by knee-length brown leather boots. Carson gently pick her up and moved her over to the examining table where there was a soft white blanket to cover her with.

"I have one question," said Ronon, who had been silent up till now. "Why is she still asleep? I thought you said that you were going to wake her up."

"According to the log, a sedative is injected just before the pod opens to keep the patient sedated until their body has recovered from the thawing process." Beckett replied. "She probably won't actually wake for several hours at least. If I may, Elizabeth, I like to move her to the infirmary so I can keep a better eye on her as soon as possible."

"Of course, Carson." Weir nodded.

Four hours later, Ronon, on a whim, decided to go down to the infirmary to see if there was any change in the girl they had released from the stasis pod that morning.

"Hello, Ronon," said Carson as the tall Setedan entered the room. "What bring you down here?" He studied the readings on the moniters and marked them down on his clipboard.

"How is she?" asked Ronon.

"Quite well, actually. To be honest, she already exceeded my wildest expectations." Replied the doctor. "All her body functions are normal; she should probably be waking up any time now." As the Scotsman reached down and pushed a strand of hair out of the girl's face, she stirred ever so slightly. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open.

"Well, hello, love." said Beckett softly. "Don't worry, we would hurt you." She looked up at him and Ronon with wide brown eyes. Fear and confusion was etched across her face.

"I get Dr. Weir and the others." said Ronon was he dashed out of the room.

A few minutes later, Weir, Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, and McKay were all assembled a few feet away from the hospital bed.

"We haven't been able to get to say anything yet," said Carson. "Poor lass is scared to death. Maybe you can talk her, Elizabeth.

"I can give it a try." Elizabeth walked over the bed with a smile. "Hello, I'm Dr. Elizabeth Weir-"

"Are you the leader of these people?"

Elizabeth was stunned for a moment. "Uh, yes, I am."

"Why are you here and what have you done to my people?" asked the girl fiercely.

"Nothing." Answered McKay. "We didn't do anything to your people."

The girl's face went blank in shock. "What are you saying?" she breathed.

"We are explorers from the planet earth; we found the city abandoned." Explain Weir.

"Abandoned?" she cried, "Impossible! They would never leave without me!" Tears began to form in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry." Murmured Weir.

The girl took a deep breath. "If no one was here, then how did your people find Atlantis?" she asked.

"There were hints, clues hidden on our world and all over our galaxy."

"Galaxy?"

"Yes, earth is not in the Pegasus." Replied Sheppard.

"Oh, right. You'll have to forgive my cosmic geography. I was never very good at it, and I not exactly myself right now."

"Of course." Said Weir. "We should probably let you rest." The girl nodded absently as she stared down at her hands, clearly in shock over the news imparted to her.

"Poor thing," said Sheppard as they walked on the hall towards the control room, "she wakes up after 10,000 years to find everyone and everything she knows gone."

"Indeed." Said Teyla, "I do not know what I would do if I came home to find my friends and loved ones gone."

The next day, Weir went down to the infirmary to find the girl sitting up on the edge of her bed being examined by Dr. Beckett.

"You seem to be up fast." She commented as she neared. "How she doing?"

"Great." He replied. "In fact," he looked back at his patient, "You are free to go, my dear. Just do anything too strenuous yet; you are still recovering."

The girl nodded with a smile. For some reason she could not quite name, she like this man, this _doctor_, with a strange accent very much. She turned to Dr. Weir.

"Well," said Elizabeth, "Normally I would give a guest a tour of the city, but I'm sure you know this city better than we do." The girl smiled again and nodded.

"I suppose I should introduce myself now," she said. "My name is Aurora."

"Really? We found a battleship by that name two years ago."

"The Aurora? What do you mean you found the _Aurora_?"

"It showed up on the city's deep space sensors," replied Elizabeth. The girl eyes were once again wide with amazement.

"How was the crew when you found it?"

"They were in stasis pods, but it had been too long." Said Elizabeth sadly. "I'm sorry. That ship meant something to you doesn't it? You knew someone on board, didn't you?"

Aurora's head was bowed, but she nodded. "My father was on that ship. He was the captain. That why it was named the _Aurora_. The day it was completed was the day I was born. A name had not been decided on, and it was tradition that the captain name his ship. So, since we were both "born" on the same day, we were both called Aurora."

"I'm very sorry, Aurora." Elizabeth murmured. Aurora nodded again.

"Thank you, Dr. Weir." She took a deep breath. So much had happened since her waking, her head felt like it was whirling around somewhere in the clouds. "Since a tour of the city would be more or less pointless, perhaps I should meet the other leaders of your expedition team." She suggested, trying to sound bright, but pretty much failing.

"Of course," said Weir, "Actually that's a good idea. I know they are all eager to meet you."

"Eager to meet me? Why?"

"Well, we've been studying your culture and technology for years. To have a live Ancient here to consult with on the use and purpose of things would be a wild dream come true for our scientists."

"Oh." Aurora replied, still a little confused. As Dr. Weir led her to the "Control Room", she tried to clear her head and not think of the fact that everyone and everything she had known was either gone or changed.

Suddenly, Aurora heard a shout up ahead. "Oh, there you are Elizabeth! Has Carson said whether not she'll be up soon or not?" In his rush Dr. McKay had not noticed Aurora standing right there beside Weir. Weir just smiled. "What?"

"Why don't you take a look at who's on Elizabeth's left?" said Sheppard, who was coming up behind Weir and Aurora. The two ladies turned to face him. Smiling, he introduced himself. ". John Sheppard, ranking military officer."

"McKay, Dr. Rodney McKay." Rodney quickly introduced himself too.

"I'm pleased to met you both, gentleman." Said Aurora with a deep nod to each. "My name is Aurora."

"'Aurora'? Really?" asked Sheppard.

The young Ancient smiled bittersweetly. "Yes. Dr. Weir told me that you found my namesake."

"_Your_ namesake?" asked Dr. McKay.

"Yes," she replied. "My father was the captain of the _Aurora._ He named me and it the same because the day of my birth and the day the ship first left port was the same."

By this time, they had all made it to the Control Room, and a awe-filled hush fell over everyone there as Aurora entered. She grew still as all eyes stared at her. Weir, Sheppard, and McKay immediately sensed her discomfort.

"You know, it's rude to stare," Said Sheppard pointedly. I'm sorry," he said as turn to Aurora. "You'd think they had never seen another human being before." The girl smiled as she followed Weir through the control room to her office.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun was setting and Aurora was getting sleepy. She tried to hide her yawns behind her hand, but with little success. Ronon watched the young Ancient out of the corner of his eye. She looked about ready to fall asleep right where she sat. Well, she _had_ had a big day; waking up after ten thousand year in a stasis pod, then meeting probably at least a hundred new people after finding out she was left behind in an abandoned city by her friends and family. That was enough to anyone tired.

Aurora yawned again. "Well, I hate to break this up, but I really think I should head to my quarters now." She said sleepily. "Good night, everyone." Aurora stood up and started to leave.

"Where are you going?" asked Sheppard.

"My quarters, sir."

"Hmm, how do I put this… Have you considered the fact that 'your quarters' may not be 'your quarters' anymore?"

"No, considering you have no one living in the section of the city I used to live in."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, sir. You see, my parents liked the quieter, more remote parts of the city to the bustling center." She replied. "Don't worry, I know where I'm going." With that the young girl started making her way to the southern spire.

It was right where she remembered it being, but much was missing. Almost all of her personal possessions were gone. The large round room at the top of a tower was rather bare. The bed linens were still in place, the sheer drapes still covered the huge wall of windows covering half of the room. The closet was empty, as well as the two bookcases. Her trunk was still at the foot of her bed, but all the clothes in it were beyond dry rotted. She walked over to her desk by the windows. The drawers were empty of her elctrotablet, music player, camara, and other small devices and trinkets. Lifting a secret panel in the bottom of one drawer, she found one thing she was looking for: her journal. It was a leather hide bound book with papyrus-like paper in it. In the compartment with it was her ink and quill feathers.

Aurora never had any real interest in science. Her interest was in history. In doing things like people thousands of years before. It gave her a feel for what things were like for her ancestors. She loved feeling like she had gone back in time, and really did feel like the past had come to life when she spent her last half hour before bed writing in her journal with quill and ink by candle light. Unfortunately, Aurora found that her ink had long since dried up in the well and her quill pen was pretty much useless after so long. Her journal, however was still in decent shape. She had seen the strangers use sticks that wrote with what looked like ink. It wasn't a quill, but she decided to ask if she could have one of those "pens".

Aurora finally laid down across her bed. Dust rose from the blankets. She rolled them to end of the bed, took her boots off and slipped beneath her worn sheets. For hours sleep evaded her weary mind. Everything that had happened since she woke up that afternoon kept playing over and over in her mind. Around dawn, Aurora was finally able to drift off into a dreamless slumber.

While Aurora was trying to track down sleep, it was beng just as elusive for the members of the expedition team as they mulled over that day's events. MacKay never dreamed he would find a working stasis pod. When Weir woke up that morning, she never imagined that by the end of the day she would have had a full-blown conversation with a living, breathing Ancient. Teyla could not believe that she had seen one of the Ancestors. Beckett never thought that he would have an Ancient as a patient, yet she had been, and had been excellent patient, doing (or not doing) everything he said to. Sheppard never would have believed anyone if they had told him that he would be on a first name basis with one of the Ancients. In fact, he still could hardly believe it. Ronon's mind was in a whirl for trying to imagine what all of this must be like for her. Ten thousand years in a tiny little capsule? Waking up to find everything changed and strangers in her people's place? His mind was already in overload, it hadn't even happened to him. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for her. When sleep finally stopped evading the Atlantis personnel, the young Ancient was not far from any of their thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

**Please review! This is my first Stargate Atlantis fic and I want to know how I'm doing. So just hit the review button, and tell me if you like it or not. If not, please tell me why and how you think I could fix it! I have no problem with constructive criticism. (as long as it's not flames; that's just rude, seeing that we're all amateurs here)**

**Chapter 3**

Aurora woke with the dawn streaming in through the windows across from her bed. Her first thought was that her parents were not going to waiting for her at breakfast. Then, she remembered all the new friends she met yesterday. She was afraid at first, but she soon learned that she had nothing to worry about. Dr. Weir and Miss Emoggen were both understanding and kind. Col. Sheppard and Mr. Dex made her feel perfectly safe. Mr. Dex was rather intimidating at first, but she knew that he would not hurt her for anything. Dr. MacKay was like most scientists she had met, and his enthusiasm rubbed off on her. His know-it-all attitude could be toned down, but he was still nice over all.

_At least they are all good people,_ Aurora thought._ It could have been a much worse band of people that found Atlantis and me._ With that she tossed back her disintegrating covers and slipped her skirt, vest, and boots back on. After finger-combing her hair and hoping she looked presentable, she left her tower room to meet Dr. Weir for breakfast.

Aurora found Dr. Weir in the mess hall. Weir stood and waved Aurora over. Col. Sheppard was sitting across from her, so Aurora took the seat beside Weir.

"Good morning, Coronel Sheppard." Said Aurora. "I didn't know you would be here as well."

"First of all," replied Sheppard, "what did we go over last night?"

"Oh! Right, um, John."

"That's better," he said. "you're not military, remember." Aurora smiled and nodded. "I'm here," he continued, "because I had something I wanted to discuss with Elizabeth."

"Oh, all right." Aurora nodded in understaning. Then she looked at their trays. "I don't mean to be rude, but where do I find breakfast?"

"I'll show you." Weir smiled and led Aurora to the breakfast line, explaining what different foods were. Just then, McKay sat down be Sheppard and tried to get him in a conversation about the stasis pod, most of which Sheppard couldn't get heads or tails out of. When Weir and Aurora came back, they had Teyla with them. Sheppard jumped up and gave Teyla his seat since he was already finished. "I'm supposed to meet Ronon in a few minutes for our run anyway." He said when she hesitated to take his seat.

"Have a good run!" Aurora called as he turned and left. He waved over his shoulder in acknowledgement as Teyla sat down. McKay instantly tried to get Aurora to tell him more about the pod, but she did not know any more than he did.

"My mother wouldn't tell me much," she said. "I think she was afraid of scaring me or something."

"Scaring you?" Teyla asked.

"Well, there was a slight possibility that it wouldn't work. Many things could have gone wrong." Answered Aurora. "I might have died in the freezing process or not survived the thawing. In the case of my being left here, the pod might not have worked properly, and I might have died of old age."

"Your mom really didn't tell you anything else?" asked McKay.

"No, Doctor, she was a very private person. If it wasn't absolutely necessary for you to know, she probably wouldn't tell you." She answered. "I'm sorry, Dr. McKay, I really wish I could help you."

"It's fine, really. I'll figure it out, it'll just take longer is all. Who knows, it might be more fun." Said McKay, trying to cheer the young Ancient up.

Aurora sighed and smiled. "So, what are the plans for today?"


End file.
